Barring any unforeseen setback, Rick Nash will rejoin the Rangers lineup Tuesday against the Hurricanes.
Nash missed the previous two games after he said his back “locked up” on him while shooting during a practice at the University of Denver on Thursday. He was unable to play the weekend’s back-to-back road games, Friday’s 2-1 victory over the Avalanche or Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Coyotes. Yet Nash practiced fully in Westchester on Monday and said he’s ready to go.
“Everything feels good,” he said after practice, rejoining his line with Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello. “I plan on playing. We’ll see how it reacts [Monday] night. If everything feels the way it does now, then good to go.”
Nash, 31, called the injury “more structural than muscular, but I’m not a doctor.” He said there was no different plan scheduled for him as the Rangers prepare to play four games in the next six days.
“I think just make sure I’m getting my treatment,” Nash said. “Make sure you’re staying loose, stretching, you’re warming up before practices. It’ll be nice to get back in that flow. It seems like that the last couple weeks, we’ve kind of had a lot of practices. It’ll be nice to get into the game flow again.”
Looking toward the rest of the season, coach Alain Vigneault was not predicting he would treat Nash any differently.
“I’m assuming he’s full-go, unless I’m told otherwise,” Vigneault said. “I talked to him on the ice [Monday] morning, he said he was good to go. So if he’s good to go, he’s going to play.”
Vigneault was unsure who was going to come out of the lineup to make room for Nash. In his absence, Emerson Etem took his spot on the left side of the top line with Brassard and Zuccarello, but he could be the odd man out on Tuesday.
“I did like Etem in those two games that he played,” Vigneault said. “I thought that line had some good looks and some good chances. So it looks like Nasher is going to play, then we’re going to sort out the rest of our lineup.”
Etem spent practice as part of a four-man rotation — with Dominic Moore, Jarret Stoll and Jesper Fast — on the fourth line. J.T. Miller remained on the right side with Derek Stepan and Chris Kreider, while the third line of Oscar Lindberg-Kevin Hayes-Viktor Stalberg remained intact.
“Our top line with Brass is pretty set, we know that we like the duo of Kreids and Step, so we’re trying to find a fit there,” Vigneault said. “Hayes’ line with Oscar and Viktor has looked good. So we’re thinking of keeping that. So there are only so many spots open, only so many positions.”
If Etem stays in, it likely would be on the left side of the fourth line, centered by Moore with Stoll on the right.
Marc Staal will be facing his two brothers yet again when Eric and Jordan come in with the Hurricanes. Marc said the meetings have become so commonplace, his parents will not come down to watch and instead stay home in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
“It’s a distraction,” Marc said, “but you have to play through it.”
As for whether it’s easier or harder to play against his brothers, Marc quickly answered, “Harder.”
“It’s two behemoth bodies protecting the puck down low. And I’m usually out against one of them. They’re two good players, and they like to come into MSG and play well.”